How things work in Corfu- Part 2: The Internet

Ben and I are used to having a strange internet connection. You can't really have a phone line on a cruising boat and all the metal boats are composed of tend to reflect signal. So over the years we've had various different internet devices ranging from dongles, to wifi repeaters, to mobile signal... most of them worked... a bit.... some of the time.  We made it work and got on with things as and when we could.

    I was kind of looking forward to being in a house- a real house that could have a real, grown up, reliable internet connection, and as I am teaching singing to many of my students in London via Skype it is essential to my work. However it has not been a straightforward process!

  I started looking into it the 2nd day we were here. Thankfully we brought a tablet from the uk that we can tether from and it hasn't been too bad for internet but in order to keep up coaching from the other side of Europe I need a really good internet connection. So I asked Maria from next door (who is the font of all knowledge here in Magoulades.) "Don't worry there is a man in the village who sets up the internet. He's friends with my husband, we can ask him to pop by this week."

 Great :)

   We also made some new friends a little further up the hill and on the same day they said they would see him later and could tell him that we want internet.
"Can you give him my number?" I asked.
"No need, he lives in the village. It'll be no problem for him to drop by.
Since we were sending the message via two different people we felt sure that it would all be sorted.

...Needless to say we didn't see him.

 We were reassured by Maria that the mysterious man from Cosmote (that's the name of the company that does the internet connection here) would be by the following day.

  .... Of course he didn't show up, we were starting to see a pattern.

   So the following day we decided to go to the shops. Halfway down the immensely windy road to Sidari a white and blue Cosmote van passes us heading in the direction of our village.

  I joked "He's probably the guy meant to connect our internet."
  Ben slammed on the breaks. "Why else would he be driving through Magoulades?!! Lets catch him!"

  So the suspense was high as Ben did the 1 million point turn required to get the car facing the other direction on the thin mountain road. Then he put his foot to the floor and we sped back up the hill looking like a dusty, DIY clad, poor mans James Bond and obligatory bond girl.

   A rubbish truck saved us.

 We had the elusive Cosmote man stuck between the van and our car. Ben knocked on the window while I sat in the car.   There was a bit of talk and then an inordinate amount of time where the Cosmote man started at his phone and spoke on his phone while Ben lurked by his window looking somewhat confused. After about 5 minutes more of this I got out the car in time to hear him say.
"Ok, I come to you now."

 YES! The internet would soon be ours...

But no, of course it wouldn't be that simple. We are now in Corfu so everything has a twist on what you would expect.

  After a short chat he said he would come back tomorrow ... NOOOO not this again!

  Of course he didn't come but the next day in the middle of the afternoon he did come. He gave a cursory look at where the previous internet connection had been and said. "Yes, it will be no problem to set it up here. The office will call you tomorrow to arrange."

  BUT we only have English mobiles at present and our landline will only come once Cosmote have set it up, they wouldn't call an English mobile so agian we were stuck.
     "Don't worry." Said the Cosmote man. "I will get them to call Maria next door and she can call you, when they call her."

 "Erm ok..."

  So the following day I hear "SACHAAAAAA" Being called from next door. "COSMOTEEEEEE"
  I ran to the bottom of the garden where Maria kindly gave me  her my phone. They asked for my tax number which Ben had. Ben was out of the house and had left his phone behind so while the precious internet was so close. I had to ask them to call back later.

  They did call back later. I was painting one of the rooms upstairs when once again I hear. "SACHAAAA COSMOTEEE!!!!"

  I run down again answered Maria's phone and asked Ben where the tax number was.

  We had of course left it at the lawyers office. We didn't have a phone number for our lawyer and she is famously slow to answer emails so once again I had to let the internet lady go (who by this point sounded very bored with me).

The next day I was sanding a wardrobe when I hear SACHAAA COSMOTEEEE!"  The Cosmote lady had thankfully called back again- I had all the documents and numbers she needed, she talked me through my contract and assured me the man would be able to connect us by the following day. HURRRAH.

  ... But he didn't come, or the day after, or the day after!

   After another trip to get supplies for the house Maria told us that Cosmote had called and that the man would be with us by the following week.

 ... Fingers crossed eh?!

  :) s

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